Élisabeth Guigou

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Élisabeth Guigou in 1997

Élisabeth Guigou (born Élisabeth Vallier, 6 August 1946, Marrakesh, Morocco) is a French Socialist politician.

[edit] Biography

After attending ENA, France's elite graduate school of public affairs, she worked on Jacques Delors' staff in 1982 before being hired by Hubert Védrine in François Mitterrand's . She was appointed Secretary-General of the Interminsterial Committee on European Economical Matters in 1986 during the period of cohabitation.

She first got a taste of front-line politics when she was appointed Minister of Eureopean Affairs (1990-1993), during the campaign on the Maastricht Treaty, before she was elected to the European Parliament in 1994.

In 1997, she was elected to the National Assembly in the Vaucluse département and entered incoming Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's cabinet, as Minister of Justice (1997-2000) and then as Minister of Employment (2000-2002).

She failed to be elected Mayor of Avignon and, facing possible defeat in her district, got nominated as a candidate for the National Assembly in 2002 in the heavily left-wing département of Seine-Saint-Denis.

She is a founding chairwoman and co-president with Jean-Noël Jeanneney of Europartenaires, a group linking business interests with the European Union. She has also created a lobby group called Femmes d'Europe (Women of Europe) and sits on the board of direscors of Jacques Delors's fondation Notre Europe (Our Europe). She campaigned for the Yes in the referendum on the 2005 Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe.

She is the spouse of Jean-Louis Guigou, a professor of economics, former technical adviser to Michel Rocard and civil servant. They have two children.